The 130th Rifle Division was first formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in November 1939 in the Kiev Special Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of the previous September. At the start of the German invasion in June 1941 it was still in that District, part of the reserve 55th Rifle Corps. It quickly took up positions in prepared defenses west of Mohyliv-Podilskyi as it was incorporated into Southern Front. It remained defending along the Dniestr River into mid-July when it began falling back toward the Dniepr, avoiding being trapped near Uman in the process. The division remained in positions along that river until after the encirclement and destruction of Southwestern Front east of Kyiv left it vulnerable to a renewed German drive toward the Sea of Azov. It was overrun on the open steppe in early October and soon disbanded.
The 3rd Moscow Communist Rifle Division began forming on October 24 from worker's regiments in that city, now under immediate threat following Operation Typhoon. Once formed a few weeks later it took up fortified positions in the Moscow Defence Zone until January 1942 when it was redesignated as the new 130th Rifle Division and moved north to join the 3rd Shock Army of Kalinin Front near Kholm. After playing a secondary role in the fighting for that place it was transferred to Northwestern Front near Demyansk, where it soon joined 53rd Army. Until August it was largely involved in holding the line, after which it saw increasing action, eventually in the 1st Shock Army, although without any great success. Despite this, on December 8 it became the 53rd Guards Rifle Division.
The final 130th was formed near Rostov-on-Don from a pair of rifle brigades in 28th Army of Southern Front on May 1, 1943. It was soon moved to 44th Army of the same Front, and took part in both the July and August offensives to break into the Donbas region, helping to recapture Taganrog in late August and winning its name as an honorific. About 10 days later, as its advance continued, it was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After 44th Army was disbanded it returned to 28th Army, and as it continued to move through southern Ukraine it was also assigned to 5th Shock and 3rd Guards Armies in the now-renamed 4th Ukrainian Front. In March 1944 it was back in 5th Shock, now in 3rd Ukrainian Front, when it participated in the capture of Mikolaiv, for which it was awarded the Order of Suvorov. Almost immediately it was removed to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and began moving north, again returning to 28th Army, where it would remain for the duration. This Army joined 1st Belorussian Front in May, in time to take part in Operation Bagration in Belarus, during which it received the unusual award of the Order of Lenin for its part in the fighting for the Belarusian capital. From there it continued to advance toward Baranavichy and Brest, eventually reaching the border of East Prussia. During the offensive into Poland and Germany in January 1945, as part of 3rd Belorussian Front, it took part in the fighting to reduce the German forces trapped southwest of Königsberg before again entering the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and being moved southwest with its Army to join 1st Ukrainian Front. Arriving after the start of the Berlin operation it helped encircle and reduce German 9th Army south of the German capital. Shortly after the German surrender it began moving back to the USSR, and it was disbanded at Slonim in February 1947.
1st Formation The division was formed at Mohyliv-Podilskyi in the Kiev Special Military District in early November 1939. Kombrig Pavel Ivanovich Abramidze was soon assigned to command, but he left this post on January 1, 1940, to take command of the 72nd Rifle Division and was replaced by Kombrig Viktor Alekseevich Vizzhilin; this officer would have his rank modernized to that of major general on June 4. At the time of the German invasion on June 22, 1941, the division's order of battle was as follows: 371st Rifle Regiment 528th Rifle Regiment 664th Rifle Regiment 363rd Artillery Regiment 496th Howitzer Regiment 215th Antitank BattalionCharles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 66 163rd Antiaircraft Battalion 151st Reconnaissance Battalion 192nd Sapper Battalion 143rd Signal Battalion 122nd Medical/Sanitation Battalion 103rd Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 130th Motor Transport Battalion 279th Field Bakery 49th Divisional Artillery Workshop 340th Field Artillery Repair Shop 461st Field Postal Station 348th Field Office of the State Bank The division had been part of 55th Rifle Corps since April, along with the 169th and 189th Rifle Divisions. On the day of the invasion Kiev Special District was redesignated as Southwestern Front, and the 130th and 169th received orders to occupy the 12th Mogilev-Podolsk Fortified Region. On June 25 it was assigned to the newly-formed Southern Front, and within days the 55th Corps, minus the 189th Division, came under command of 18th Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 9, 17 Battle of Uman
By July 13 the 55th Corps was still holding a front along the Dniestr northwest and southeast of Mohyliv-Podilskyi. The two divisions of the Corps were under attack from the Romanian 3rd Army and were soon forced to fall back to the southeast; the Corps was located roughly halfway between its former location and the city of Kodyma by July 23 and then beyond that place by the end of the month.David Stahel, Kiev 1941, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, pp. 78, 85 General Vizzhilin left the division on July 25, being replaced by Col. Semyon Sergeevich Safronov. Vizzhilin was briefly placed at disposal of the main personnel directorate before being made deputy commander of 1st Guards Rifle Corps. After serving in several staff positions he was given command of the 288th Rifle Division in March 1942 but was badly wounded in May and never returned to the front.
The retreat from the Dniestr placed 55th Corps south of the Axis forces that were proceeding to envelop the 6th and 12th Armies to the north in the Uman area. This was completed on August 1, and over the following days the 130th and 169th attempted to aid the breakout of the encircled Soviet forces, during which the commander of the latter was mortally wounded.Aleksander A. Maslov, Fallen Soviet Generals, trans. & ed. by D. M. Glantz, Frank Cass Publishers, London, 1998, p. 44 Retreat through south Ukraine By mid-August the 130th had taken up positions on the east bank of the lower Dniepr between Hornostaivka and Velyka Lepetykha. Southern Front largely escaped the debacle suffered by Southwestern Front east of Kiyv in September and the 130th continued to retreat with 18th Army during this period. Following this victory the OKH ordered Army Group South to attack simultaneously toward Kharkiv, the Donbas, and Rostov-on-Don, with its left wing forces, while the right wing encircled Southern Front and invaded the Crimea. 1st Panzer Army attacked off the march from the Poltava area and soon smashed the defenses of 12th Army before exploiting toward Melitopol, encircling six divisions of the Front's 18th and 6th Armies on October 7. Over the next three days elements of the 18th were able to break out toward Taganrog, pursued by panzers which halted on the Mius River to regroup on October 13.David M. Glantz, Before Stalingrad, Tempus Publishing Ltd., Stroud, UK, 2003, pp. 151-52 During this fighting the 130th was effectively overrun and scattered.Sharp, "Red Legions", p. 66 Colonel Safronov was lost in the chaos on October 16, being replaced by Lt. Col. Fyodor Andreevich Kovalev. This officer was killed in action on October 20, and while some individuals and small groups managed to escape the division was written off the same day.
3rd Moscow Communist Rifle Division
This division, also called the "Moscow Worker's Division", was formed beginning on October 24 from 9,753 men and women from the city's worker's defense battalions that had begun forming in July. These personnel included 3,173 members of the Communist Party and 3,564 Komsomols, making up a full 70 percent, higher than nearly any other Soviet division formed during the war.Sharp, "Red Volunteers", Soviet Militia Units, Rifle and Ski Brigades 1941 - 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. XI, Nafziger, 1996, p. 114 The armies that had been defending west of Moscow had been largely destroyed during Operation Typhoon earlier in the month and the capital was under direct threat. Col. Andrei Ivanovich Romashenko was given command the day it began forming; he had been serving as commandant of the 35th Fortified Region of the Moscow Military District since May. The division's order of battle was as follows: 1st Worker's Regiment (five battalions) 2nd Worker's Regiment (four battalions) 3rd Worker's Regiment (three battalions) Artillery Regiment (three battalions)Sharp, "Red Volunteers", p. 113 Antitank Battalion Mortar Battalion Antiaircraft Battalion Reconnaissance Company Sapper Battalion Signal Battalion Medical/Sanitation Battalion Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company Motor Transport Company Divisional Veterinary Hospital The division was declared as "ready for the front" on October 28 while in fact it was still forming up. It was recorded on this date as having just 6,990 rifles, 40 submachine guns, 479 machine guns of all types, and 44 artillery pieces of all calibres.Sharp, "Red Volunteers", p. 114 Battle of Moscow Two further Communist rifle divisions, the 4th and 5th, were formed at the same time from the district "destruction" battalions that had been formed in June/July, and the 2nd Moscow Rifle Division was created from mobilized Muscovites. Despite discouragement from the authorities, the divisions included some 600 women volunteers.Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941, Vintage Books, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 205-06 This force was moved as soon as possible to the suburbs, establishing positions along the most vital routes into the city: the Kyiv and Minsk highways and the Kaluga, Volokolamsk, Leningrad, and Dmitrov roads. A great deal of effort was put into construction of defensive works, as well as front-line reconnaissance and combat.Soviet General Staff, The Battle of Moscow, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2015, Kindle ed., Part III, ch. 8 3rd Communist was given specific responsibility for the Volokolamsk and Leningrad axes, as well as the Northern River Port at Khimki. On November 18 Colonel Romashenko left the 3rd Communist, being replaced by Col. Nikolai Pavlovich Anisimov. Romashenko was given command of the 74th Fortified Region in the Caucasus in May 1942 and was slated to take command of the 318th Rifle Division in August but was forced to escape from encirclement, after which he was arrested by the NKVD and condemned to death by a tribunal, a sentence which was carried out on December 15. Anisimov had been serving as chief of staff of 31st Army.
2nd Formation At the start of the Moscow counteroffensive the division was taking part in reconnaissance activity toward Solnechnogorsk. Otherwise it remained on the defensive until January 22, 1942, when it was redesignated as the new 130th Rifle Division. It spent several weeks preparing for a move to the north and by February 19 it had joined Kalinin Front's 3rd Shock Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, pp. 31, 44 After redesignation its order of battle was very similar to that of the 1st formation: 371st Rifle Regiment (from 1st Worker's Regiment) 528th Rifle Regiment (from 2nd Worker's Regiment) 664th Rifle Regiment (from 3rd Worker's Regiment) 363rd Artillery Regiment